President Ersin Tatar meets with the British High Commissioner and the British Foreign Office Senior Official
President Ersin Tatar met with the British High Commissioner Stephen Lillie and British Foreign Affairs Senior Official Ajay Sharma.
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During the meeting views were exchanged in relation to the latest developments in the Ukraine-Russia war. President Tatar expressed his wish for the war to be ended immediately, and for the mechanisms of dialogue to be activated in order to establish peace and stability, to bring an end to the humanitarian plight.
Discussions were also held in relation to the Cyprus issue, where President Tatar said that formal negotiations could be started once the sovereign equality and equal international status, which is an inherent right of the Turkish Cypriots, was reaffirmed. He added that sustainable peace and stability can be reached by taking lessons from previous negotiations and the refusal of the Greek Cypriot side to share power and prosperity on an equality based partnership. Reiterating the Turkish Cypriot position for reaching a settlement on the basis of a two State model and their cooperative relationship, President Tatar underlined the need for the isolation on Turkish Cypriots to be ended and emphasised that Turkish Cypriot side expect the UK to be more flexible following the Brexit.
“The ending of the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot people, was amongst the promises that were made during and after the 2004 UN Comprehensive Settlement Plan in Cyprus which was rejected by 76 per cent of the Greek Cypriots and accepted by 64 per cent of the Turkish Cypriot people, in the separately held simultaneous referenda. The issue of ending the isolation on our people, who are inherent co-owners of Cyprus, is a human rights issue,” the President stated. “Turkish Cypriots should be able to trade directly and travel directly to and from their own ports and airport,” he added.
The meeting was also attended by Special Representative M. Ergün Olgun and members of the negotiating team.